1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the present disclosure relates to the field of integrated circuits, and, more particularly, to the manufacture of P-channel field effect transistors having a strained channel region caused by a stressed dielectric material formed around the transistors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Integrated circuits typically comprise a large number of circuit elements on a given chip area according to a specified circuit layout, wherein, in complex circuits, the field effect transistor represents one important device component. Generally, a plurality of process technologies are currently practiced, wherein, for complex circuitry based on field effect transistors, such as microprocessors, storage chips and the like, MOS technology is currently one of the most promising approaches due to the superior characteristics in view of operating speed and/or power consumption and/or cost efficiency. During the fabrication of complex integrated circuits using MOS technology, millions of transistors, in CMOS technology, complementary transistors, i.e., N-channel transistors and P-channel transistors, are formed on a substrate including a crystalline semiconductor layer. A field effect transistor, irrespective of whether an N-channel transistor or a P-channel transistor is considered, comprises so-called PN junctions that are formed by an interface of highly doped drain and source regions with an inversely or weakly doped channel region disposed between the drain region and the source region.
The conductivity of the channel region, i.e., the drive current capability of the conductive channel, is controlled by a gate electrode formed above the channel region and separated therefrom by a thin insulating layer. The conductivity of the channel region, upon formation of a conductive channel due to the application of an appropriate control voltage to the gate electrode, depends on the dopant concentration, the mobility of the majority charge carriers and, for a given extension of the channel region in the transistor width direction, on the distance between the source and drain regions, which is also referred to as channel length. Hence, the conductivity of the channel region represents an important factor that substantially affects the performance of the MOS transistors. Thus, the reduction of the channel length, and associated therewith the reduction of the channel resistivity, may be dominant design criteria for accomplishing an increase in the operating speed of integrated circuits.
The shrinkage of the transistor dimensions, however, involves a plurality of issues associated therewith that have to be addressed so as to not unduly offset the advantages obtained by steadily decreasing the channel length of MOS transistors. One problem in this respect is the reduction of the thickness of the gate dielectric layer in order to maintain the desired channel controllability on the basis of increased capacitive coupling. With the thickness of oxide-based gate dielectrics approaching 1.5 nm and less, the further scaling of the channel length may be difficult due to an unacceptable increase of leakage currents through the gate dielectric. For this reason, it has been proposed to enhance device performance of the transistor elements not only by reducing the transistor dimensions but also by increasing the charge carrier mobility in the channel region for a given channel length. One efficient approach is the modification of the lattice structure in the channel region, for instance, by creating tensile or compressive strain therein, which results in a modified mobility for electrons and holes, respectively. For example, creating tensile strain in the channel region of a silicon layer having a standard crystallographic configuration may increase the mobility of electrons, which in turn may directly translate into a corresponding increase in the conductivity for N-type transistors. On the other hand, compressive strain in the channel region may increase the mobility of holes, thereby providing the potential for enhancing the performance of P-type transistors. Consequently, it has been proposed to introduce, for instance, a silicon/germanium layer or a silicon/carbon layer in or near the channel region to create tensile or compressive stress. Although the transistor performance may be considerably enhanced by the introduction of strain-creating layers in or below the channel region, significant efforts have to be made to implement the formation of corresponding strain-inducing layers into the conventional and well-approved CMOS technique. For instance, additional epitaxial growth techniques have to be developed and implemented into the process flow to form the germanium- or carbon-containing stress layers at appropriate locations in or below the channel region. Hence, process complexity is significantly increased, thereby also increasing production costs and the potential for a reduction in production yield.
Therefore, a technique is frequently used that enables the creation of desired stress conditions within the channel region of different transistor elements by modifying the stress characteristics of a contact etch stop layer that is formed above the basic transistor structure in order to form contact openings to the gate and drain and source terminals in an interlayer dielectric material. The effective control of mechanical stress in the channel region, i.e., an effective stress engineering, may be accomplished by individually adjusting the internal stress in the contact etch stop layers located above the respective transistor elements so as to position a contact etch stop layer having an internal compressive stress above a P-channel transistor while positioning a contact etch stop layer having an internal tensile strain above an N-channel transistor, thereby creating compressive and tensile strain, respectively, in the respective channel regions.
Typically, the contact etch stop layer is formed by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) processes above the transistor, i.e., above the gate structure and the drain and source regions, wherein, for instance, silicon nitride may be used due to its high etch selectivity with respect to silicon dioxide, which is a well-established interlayer dielectric material. Furthermore, PECVD silicon nitride may be deposited with a high intrinsic stress, for example, up to 2 Giga Pascal (GPa) or significantly higher of tensile or compressive stress, wherein the type and the magnitude of the intrinsic stress may be efficiently adjusted by selecting appropriate deposition parameters. For example, ion bombardment, deposition pressure, substrate temperature, the type of gas components and the like represent suitable parameters that may be used for obtaining the desired intrinsic stress. Since the contact etch stop layer is positioned close to the transistor, the intrinsic stress may be efficiently transferred into the channel region, thereby significantly improving the performance thereof. Moreover, for advanced applications, the strain-inducing contact etch stop layer may be efficiently combined with other strain-inducing mechanisms, such as strained or relaxed semiconductor materials that are incorporated at appropriate transistor areas in order to also create a desired strain in the channel region. Consequently, the stressed contact etch stop layer is a well-established design feature for advanced semiconductor devices. The amount of the intrinsic stress may, however, be restricted due to process-specific limitations. Therefore, the thickness of the respective etch stop layers is typically increased, which also results in an increase of the respective strain in the channel region. For example, the effective compressive force and thus the corresponding strain in P-channel transistors may be efficiently raised by increasing the thickness of the contact etch stop layer. The layer thickness may, however, have to be adapted to the requirements of the subsequent contact etch stop layer, which typically demands a moderately low thickness of several hundred nano-meters and less, in particular for sophisticated devices comprising dense patterns, at which the conformal behavior of the etch stop layer may no longer be maintained. Thus, although the provision of a highly stressed etch stop material above P-channel transistors represents an efficient approach for enhancing drive current and switching speed, the achievable gain in performance may be restricted by the deposition characteristics for and the thickness of the contact etch stop layer.
The present disclosure is directed to various techniques and devices that may avoid, or at least reduce, the effects of one or more of the problems identified above.